Dear All,

I'm a new user who found the site while looking for info covering Eastern Europe. I'm planning a 3 week trip to Czech and Slovac republics. The route will take me through France, Germany (ok so far) and then to Poland and onwards.... Anyone with experience in Poland or the Czech and Slovac republics? I'd be glad to hear from you.

My wife and I travel on a R1200GS.

__________________
Adrian

what do you need to know about Poland? Dont expect same good roads as in Germany ;-) Much cheaper than western Europe. You can pay everywhere (almost) by card. Not too many motorways. Too many trucks. Bikers are friendly.
In Czech Republik much better roads. If you need more infos sq5rk@o2.pl . Have a nice trip - Romek

__________________
Romek'65 @ r1150gs adv'03; k1200lt'06; v65c'84

Check out ukgser theres some good trip reports and info on there as well.

I rode through Eastern Europe last year and the roads and people are great. No real dramas and it felt very similar to Western Europe. The one exception was Bosnia and Serbia, they were much less developed.

__________________
2008 KTM 990 Adventure S

@Romek, I wouldn't be so sure about better road conditions in Germany ;-) The quality has certainly deteriorated in the last ten years or so. No money...


@Adrian, probably Romek will be able to give you more infos on Poland as I can, but what I enjoyed very much was a trip from Gdansk via Elblag, Olsztyn, Ketrzyn, Gizycko, Elk to Bialystok. Beautiful old town centres, lovely lakes & landscape. Unfortunately I missed out Malbork with its Templar castle.

Next ride will take me to Krakow and the Tatra Mts. Must be well worth zooming around there.

Since you're riding a GS, don't bypass all the tiny dirtroads leading to remote villages and farms you wouldn't see otherwise.


I haven't been to Slovakia either but did a trip along the southern border of the Czek Rep. via Budweis, Brno, Olmouc right up to the Polish border and back through northern Austria. What struck me was that in the East European countries you find lots of intact and renovated village- and town-centres where all the ugly "modern" post-war architechture is missing, so that these centres are still unspoilt in their beauty.


Enjoy your trip!
Hans

__________________
Only when we pause to wonder
do we go beyond the limits of our little lives.
(Rod McKuen)

hi Hans, thanks but cant agree ;-)
In April was on a bike in Munich, and Allgau. Still much much better. Anyway, let me know if you will go bit north than Krakow. I live in Warsaw, and one, maybe even two cups of coffe are waiting for you ;-) Have a nice summer. On Saturday going to Ireland, UK, Norway, Finland, maybe Russia. See you somewhere - Romek

__________________
Romek'65 @ r1150gs adv'03; k1200lt'06; v65c'84

Jeez, I envy you, you buggar ;-) And yep, I'll think of the coffe when the next trip to Poland comes up.

Thx
Hans

__________________
Only when we pause to wonder
do we go beyond the limits of our little lives.
(Rod McKuen)

Adrian,when will you be travelling through Slovakia ?

Hi Adrian...

My wife and I did a similar (identical?!) trip lasting 3 weeks. From England, through Germany and onto Prague. Then Poland and Slovakia and back to Prague and then home.

We kept a blog of the trip at Jon's adventure blog.

For the trip though Germany I stopped at Monschau (very beautiful town) and then took a small trip over the the Nurburgring. (If you drive to the town of Nurburg and then head out a bit towards the forest you can park up and go to the old stands and get an excellent view of the crazy cars and bikes).

Prague was great, but there are a lot of brits out on stag nights, etc.

From Prague we headed to the Church of Bones (at Kutna Hora) - only a short hop. We only did this because of the Long Way Round connection and met some Russians on a Pan (like ours) who'd read the book and made a similar trip but from Moscow! From there we headed North-East to Pec Pod Sněžkou on the Czech/Poland border (in the Krkonose Mountains region). Very beautiful, excellent roads, very cheap.

In Poland we took in Wroclaw - very nice, Krakow (bigger tan Wroclaw but a little more touristy), and then over to Zakopane in the Tatras. The days before and after Zakopane and the Tatras were by far the best for the driving. The roads and scenery were awesome.

From there into Slovakia - by chance we came upon a great Pension on the trip from Zakopane (mentioned in the blog) with more awesome views. From there to Bratislava - very nice, but still just a big city. Then we went back to Prague via Austria, and from Prague back home.

Good luck with your trip.

PS - I bought the Garmin Zumo 550 for the trip - absolutely fabulous apart from limited coverage of Slovakia.

Jon.